Comments on: Is the book out? Good question.

By: Jenni Fry

Jenni Fry — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 14:37:57 +0000

I’m sorry that you’ve had such a difficult time!

Here’s a link to my blog post that Walt mentioned above:
http://blog.alaeditions.org/2007/04/04/24-weeks-to-a-finished-book/

And a few more that deal with other aspects of the publishing process that readers of this post might find interesting:
http://blog.alaeditions.org/categories/publishing/

By: Michelle

Michelle — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 17:30:40 +0000

I hear your discouragement, but please press on…I appreciate your enthusiasm and your thinking, and look forward to reading your book soon.

By: Mary Scriver

Mary Scriver — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 04:18:32 +0000

I’ve had pretty good luck with Lulu.com for self-publishing. They bill themselves as a PRINTING company and point out that publishing is more than that, like distribution, editing, promotion and so on. If one can do that oneself, hurrah. If not, they keep a file of people who will contract to do it and who have a decent track record.

At the same time that I’ve “published” six books with Lulu.com, I’ve been heave-ho-ing a book through an academic press. It’s taking a little more than a year. I’ve done a great deal of the prep work and expect to do a lot more when it comes to promotion, since they have a very limited budget. I was pleased with the editor, who made almost NO changes. The layout is being done this moment and I would have had a hard time with it, but a professional friend upgraded all my photo illustrations without charging me or the press. If I don’t keep after them with a sharp stick, they seem to drift off to working on other books.

In short, I think we all sort of hope that a publisher is the equivalent of a fairy godmother. But they are not. Sigh.

Prairie Mary

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 23:29:57 +0000

I have your book and I’ve been reading it. I got it at CIL. Will bring it to ALA and I hope to meet you and have you sign it. You are also a friend on Ning. I am using my middle name on Ning. Julia. See you at ALA

By: Dean Giustini

Dean Giustini — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 18:26:09 +0000

Meredith,

A year ago, I knew that I had to decide whether to publish a book or build a knowledge-based for my students which we called the UBC Health Library wiki. My rationale was that most of the knowledge I needed to share was timely, and fast-changing. This precluded a long publication cycle, and the delays you talk about with your book (sorry, about that, btw).

Did you consider publishing with ALA or similar group? Someone suggested a smaller publisher which might help for the 2nd ed. – Dean

By: Jens De Groot

Jens De Groot — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 17:45:05 +0000

I ordered the book 3 weeks ago and thought that the book would be delivered by a ship, which sank in the deep Ocean between the US and Europe, but there was nothing on the news. Now, I’m set at ease.

By: Jenica

Jenica — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 14:36:09 +0000

Meredith, I’m so sorry. Were I you, I wouldn’t declare that you’re being fragile — that’s a lot of disappointing news and behavior from a business partner you expected better of. Being justifiably disappointed doesn’t make you fragile!

I hope that this experience doesn’t turn you off writing and publishing, because someone who has the joy and passion that you have for expressing your ideas in a way that can help people… I wouldn’t want that to be lost. But you might want to look into alternate publishers to partner with.

Have fun at ALA!

By: Lee Gorran

Lee Gorran — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 13:33:57 +0000

Meredith, too bad you and those who want to order the book are experiencing such difficulties. I called Information Today this morning. I was told that most of the books were shipped last week and mine went out June 7. Should be here any day!!

By: Alexandra

Alexandra — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 02:18:35 +0000

You should talk to Lou Rosenfeld (founder Information Architecture and publisher with Rosenfeld Media) about publishing your own book.

By: Walt Crawford

Walt Crawford — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 00:10:56 +0000

First, as you know, I think it’s a good book (thanks for the delaminated signed copy!).

Second, no, I don’t think it is the norm–but I’m not sure that there is a norm when it comes to book publishing! I’ve had books take more than a year from accepted ms. to shipping books; I’ve had some take significantly less (of course, I was doing layout and “typesetting” for some of those, which helped).

What is definitely the norm: Fully-vetted traditional book publishing is a relatively slow process. The ALA Editions blog had a post a while back that helps explain why that’s true even without unusual delays, describing a 24-week path from accepted manuscript to release of the project to the printer/binder.